Communication networks, including computer networks, such as the Internet, increasingly rely on sequences of characters as addresses for identifying resources or information. An object on the Internet is assigned a Universal Resource Identifier (URI), which can be used to access the object. Typically, users transmit the URI to the server that contains the corresponding object, and then the server returns the corresponding object. A type of URI is a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). For example, a user desiring to view a particular Internet web page typically must enter a URI comprising a domain name and elements specifying a path or subpath under that domain name.
Due to the magnitude of the information already addressable using URIs and the efficiency with which the information can be retrieved using this addressing method, many applications are implemented to access objects using corresponding URIs to identify the object.
Currently, a URI may identify a media object, such as an image, video, or audio file. However, a URI may only identify the whole media object, and cannot identify a portion of the media object. For example, a user may want to share an interesting image of the last minute touchdown catch at a football game by using a URI. However, the user may really want to share that particular image because the image also shows the football receiver's foot out of bounds as he catches the ball. The user wanting to point out the football receiver's foot may need to provide additional information for a second user after sharing the whole image with a URI so that the second user will notice the portion of interest of the image.
Therefore, methods and systems for easily identifying portions of media objects is desired.